The Curator: The Terror
by TheOrderofTrinity
Summary: The Curator & Kara find themselves on a new world. But the freezing cold town they arrive at holds a terrible secret, one that is terrorizing & murdering it's way through the people who live there.
1. Chapter 1

Kara stood in the TARDIS console room and just looked at the Curator.

"Really?" she said, "Do I really need to wear this?"

The Curator smiled at his companion. She was wearing a thick padded jacket, the same as an Inuit would wear to protect them from the cold with thick thermal gloves on.

"We're going to Rixalox, you wanted to go somewhere I've never been before. The highest the temperature ever gets there is -25 degrees." The Curator replied with a childish smile.

"When I said somewhere you hadn't been I was hoping for somewhere a little warmer!" she replied, "Why Rixawhereever?"

"I've always wanted to go there. It's as though their technological evolution just halted and they haven't changed for 400 years. I've been told it's quite the place to see."

"But -25!" Kara exclaimed.

"You want to see the wonders of time and space? The things very few will ever get to see? Well this is one of those places. Mountains made of ice, frozen oceans. A people who have evolved and adapted to survive on a barren wasteland."

"Sounds a little too much like Hoth! Knowing my luck I'll be eaten by a Wampa." Kara replied sarcastically.

"Where's Hoth?!" the Curator replied, "I've never heard of it!"

"Hoth is in a Star Wars movie. We'll watch it after I get frostbite!"

The Curator smiled and chuckled to himself.

"Trust me you'll be more than pleased with that coat and gloves when we step out of the TARDIS."

Kara gave in, no matter what she said she was going to be freezing cold for at least the next few days. She may as well make the most of them and enjoy it as much as she could.

As the TARDIS came to a stop the Curator put on his coat and put his sonic screwdriver in one of the pockets before he put his gloves on.

"I have to say, I'm very excited." he said.

Kara couldn't help but smile at the childlike expression on her best friends face.

As they opened the TARDIS doors the cold hit them like a wall.

"Still excited?" Kara asked.

The Curator nodded in reply. As they shut the door the Curator took his sonic out of his pocket.

"Just checking the temperature." he said.

"Well?" Kara asked as he looked at the results.

"-36." he said.

"Won't we freeze to death if we're out here too long?" she asked.

"No that's the wonder of these coats. They generate a protective layer around us. In a few minutes you'll start to feel warmer, they're quite wonderful." he replied.

In front of them was a forest of dead trees, covered in snow with icicles, some up to two meters long hanging off them.

"Did you say there were people living here?" Kara asked.

"Yes there are," The Curator replied, "There is a small town about four miles up that road." he said pointing down a very foreboding road.

"Why haven't we landed in the town then?" she asked.

"From what I can gather from things I've read and been told the only new people who arrive in the town all come down this one road. If we just appear in the town centre there will be too many questions we can't answer and the people will be suspicious of us."

"I knew there must be a reason." Kara replied under her breath.

Two miles down the road Kara was now nice and warm from the layer coming from the coat. Now that she wasn't freezing cold she was beginning to appreciate the view for how hauntingly beautiful it was. Suddenly the Curator stopped walking and stood starring into the tree line.

"What is it? What have you seen?" she asked.

"Bones." the Curator replied, "Lots and lots of bones."

Kara stopped in her tracks and watched the Curator step off the road and walk into the tree line.

"Fascinating." he mumbled to himself.

"What is?" Kara asked.

"What is what?" the Curator replied.

Kara couldn't help but smile. She always enjoyed watching the Curator find something unexpected or even occasionally something that he couldn't explain. He always seemed as excited as a child at christmas.

"What's fascinating?" he replied.

"These bones belong to members of the planets indigenous humanoid population. Some of them have been here so long that the trees have grown through them." he pointed to what was clearly a jawbone sticking out of the base of a huge tree.

"These ones haven't been here very long," Kara said pointing to the side of the road, "They've still got muscle attached to them." she said with a worried look on her face.

The Curator rushed over, his sonic screwdriver buzzing away. When he finished he looked at the device.

"I take it three days counts as not very long?" the Curator asked.

Kara nodded her head, "I'll say." she replied.

The Curator put the screwdriver back in his front coat pocket and began walking down the road.

"We're not going back to the TARDIS?" Kara asked as the snow began to fall harder.

"Nope." the Curator replied.

"You still want to go to that town?" Kara asked.

"Yep." he said.

"I can't talk you out of this can I?"

"Nope." he said as he continued to walk.

"You want to find out what's going on don't you?"

He turned around and flashed her a smile, "Come on, it'll be fun." he said.

The town of Loxa was home to nearly 4,000 people. There were hundreds of other small towns, just like this one. Loxa however was one of the oldest. As they walked into the town it reminded her of those old 20th christmas movies her mother always made them watch each year. The smell of burning log fires coming out of each home and building they passed. It all felt very welcoming. The town centre was bustling with life. People going about their day to day business.

"So where to now?" Kara asked.

"We need to find some kind of hotel. We'll use this place as a home base and then we'll move out each day and see what we can find. In two days time it's going to be the star festival. Each year on the same night the sky is full of thousands of shooting stars. It happens every year at the same time. There will be a huge celebration, it'll be brilliant." he said.

They began to walk through the town square. There were various shops open that sold just about everything you could need in an town like this. There was a large building of worship at one end. Kara had no idea what the religion might be, it reminded of her of church's back home. The houses of the town's people were set behind the shops and went backwards for quite some way. The Curator stopped outside one rather large building. It looked like a huge log cabin, three floors high.

"This will do." the Curator said before leading Kara inside.

Kara followed the Curator into the reception area. The huge crackling fire immediately made a difference to the heat. They walked up to a very human looking woman sitting behind a desk.

"How may I help you both?" the woman asked.

"Ah yes we'd like two rooms please." the Curator said.

"Here for the star festival?" she asked in a matter of fact way.

"Yes we are," the Curator replied with a huge smile, "and we're very much looking forward to seeing it."

"I can give you two rooms but I'll need to see some form of ID please." she barked.

The Curator reached into his pocket and pulled out a leather wallet that flipped open to show a piece of paper. The woman looked at it and her eyes widened. She looked up at the Curator and then back down at the paper.

"I'm so sorry Mr Jones we had no idea you were coming." she stuttered.

"It's no problem," he replied taking the paper from her and giving it a quick glance, "As long as we can have our rooms we'll say nothing of it."

"Of course, we have our two largest rooms for you, you'll have your own private facilities, it's very nice sir. Please follow me." she slammed a "Back in five minutes" sign on the desk and grabbed two sets of keys before dashing off.

"We'd better follow her." the Curator whispered to Kara.

"What did it say on that paper?" she asked.

"It said that I am Harry Jones and that I am the 'Master of all Law' in the area. The job must have some weight to it." the said.

"Yes but what if there's a real Harry Jones? And he turns up while we're here?" she asked.

"Judging by the fact that she's never seen him before I'm guessing he's never been here before, we should be okay." he replied.

They followed the woman up to the top floor of the little hotel and she showed them into their rooms.

"This one here is for you, Miss?" the woman asked.

"Grant." Kara replied.

"Miss Grant." the woman put on the biggest fake smile she could.

Kara walked inside, it was lovely. A huge four poster bed at the far side of the room. On the wall nearest to her a huge fire place which was already crackling away to itself with two very comfortable looking chairs in front of it and a table. There was a bathroom as well we a huge cast iron bath with a toilet and sink as well.

"Oh yes this will do." Kara said.

The Curator's room was next door and was more or less identical to Kara's.

"There is a bar downstairs which is open day and night. Plus a restaurant which is open from breakfast until dinner. If you require any food or drink, you can also call down at any time and someone will bring it up for you sir."

"Thank you very much, you've been very kind." the Curator replied.

"I'll tell the Mayor and the Law man that you're here." she said.

"Thank you again." he said with a smile.

"That psychic paper has really done well for us this time!" Kara said.

"As soon as we've placated this mayor and lawman we can start to have some fun." the Curator replied.

Within ten minutes of them being in there, there was a knock on the Curator's door. He got up from his chair in front of the fire and walked over to it. Two men stood outside. One of them looked like he would be pushing seventy in human years, he walked with a cane, had balding silver hair and looked like he just wanted the day to be over. The second man was tall and very muscular, he looked like a soldier.

"Are you Master Harry Jones?" the younger man asked.

The Curator nodded, "I am indeed, welcome, please come in. I take it you're the mayor and the law man?"

"My name is Maximilian Carter, I am the Mayor of this town." the elderly man said, "May I sit down?"

"Of course." the Curator replied.

"Thank you. This is my grandson Percivel Carter, the law man for my town."

The Curator shook the giant man's hand.

"If we had known you were coming we would have sent someone to meet you." Percivel said.

"Oh no need to worry about anything like that, I'm not one for standing on ceremony." the Curator replied.

"You told Mary on the desk that you were here for the Star Festival, but we know why you're really here Master Jones, the killings." Maximilian said.

"Yes of course we are, would you excuse me for one moment while I go to get my assistant. If we're going to get to the bottom of this then she will need to be present at all times." the Curator said.

"A woman as your assistant? What is the world coming to?!" Maximilian said.

"I assure you she is more than capable." the Curator replied, that comment making the Curator dislike him already.

"Please forgive my grandfather," Percivel said, "He's still old fashioned." he was clearly embarrassed.

"I've told you before to stop apologising for me boy."

The Curator slipped out of the room as the two began to bicker at each other. He knocked on Kara's door, moments later she appeared.

"They're here, he whispered, they want to talk to us about the killings, come on." The Curator took her hand and rushed her to his room.

"Mayor Maximilian Carter, Law man Percivel Carter, please allow me to introduce my assistant, Lieutenant Kara Grant."

The old man dismissed her, Percivel however was clearly taken with Kara.

"Very pleased to meet you Lieutenant." he said taking her hand and kissing it.

The Curator pulled her hand away, "Yes yes we're all very pleased, now to the killings. Have you any idea who is doing them?"

"It's not a who, it's a what!" Maximilian replied.


	2. Chapter 2

"What exactly do you mean a what?" Kara asked.

"We're not entirely sure," Percivel replied, "No one has seen whatever it is, but it has been heard. The sound of breaking bones, the noise it makes, a scream that is unlike anything I've heard in my life. It made my blood run cold. We've found parts of the people it's killed, the skin had been torn off by it's teeth. Teeth that could only belong to a monster."

"This isn't a new occurrence is it?" The Curator asked.

"How do you know?" Maximilian asked.

"While we were walking into town." the Curator started to say before the Mayor interrupted him.

"You walked?!" he exclaimed.

"We were dropped off by the road and wanted to walk. We saw the bones by the side of the road, the trees have grown around and through the oldest ones, so yes we know this isn't new." the Curator replied.

"Things like this have been happening for hundreds of years," Percivel replied, "Not constantly either. There is no pattern to when they happen. Sometimes every few years, other times decades pass without incident."

"The last time it happened I was a boy," Maximilian added, "The same thing, people vanishing from their homes. The church is where the town archive is kept, there are records of these things happening."

"Will we be able to read them?" Kara asked.

"You'll have to ask the preacher," Maximilian replied, "Be warned, he's not the friendliest of people. He may turn you away."

"Don't worry I'll go with you, he won't give you any hassle if I'm there." Percivel said.

"Master Jones, we must get to the bottom of this. My people are scared, there is no telling who will be next. With the festival coming up the quicker the better." Maximilian said.

"I'm sure if we all put our heads together we'll be able to find out the truth." The Curator said.

Maximilian stiffly got to his feet, "There is a meal tonight for the town's council, it would be my honour if you would join us."

"We'd be honoured to join you." The Curator replied.

"Good, I'll send a carriage for you when the evening bell chimes. Now if you will excuse me I have important things to attend to. I shall leave you in the capable hands of my grandson."

Moments later as the door closed behind the Mayor, Percivel seemed embarrassed.

"I must apologise for my grandfather and his reaction to you Lieutenant, it's only recently that the women in our town became equal with the men. My grandfather was not at all happy."

"It's okay." Kara said.

"Thank you. Right I'll go and talk to the Preacher and make sure he can see us. I must warn you however, he is much worse."

"We're here to help you catch whatever is doing this, as long as that happens, I'm sure we can put up with it." Kara replied.

"I'll be back shortly." he said before leaving.

"What do you think?" Kara asked.

"I think he's right the old man is very rude!" the Curator replied.

Kara smiled, "About what could be doing this?"

"No no idea, but I'm sure it's going to be fun finding out." he replied with his smile, "Are you armed?"

"What?" Kara replied surprised.

"Are you armed?" he replied.

"I know you don't like me carrying weapons unless we know we're going to need them." she replied trying to avoid the question.

"Seriously Kara, are you armed? I get the feeling we may need some kind of weapon."

"Yes I'm armed." she replied.

"What did you bring? Just out of interest."

Kara reached behind her and unfastened a holstered side arm and put it on the table. She then pulled up her left trouser leg to reveal a very large hunting knife and then the right trouser leg to reveal another gun. She gave him an awkward smile.

"I've brought six reloads for my main gun and four for my back up." she said half expecting the Curator not to be pleased with her.

"Thank goodness," he replied, "I have a very bad feeling about this place."

…...

Percivel walked through the cold street that led to the town's church. It was the largest building in the small hamlet, tall, imposing and gothic, it was not a place he liked to go. Being the town lawmaker, unfortunately he was expected to be seen there every week. He opened one of the large old wooden doors and walked inside. Other than most of the other buildings it was still freezing cold inside. He walked down the long line of pews to the far end where the preacher's office was located. As he reached the door he took a deep breath before knocking. He waited a few moments for the door to open. Preacher Frasten was an imposing man. He was nearly the size of Percivel, but where muscle hung from him, Frasten's frame had fat hanging from it. His jet black beard hid nearly half of his face, his balding hairline showed the rest. His grey eyes terrified the children of the town. He remembered when he was a boy, it had been the same for him. He was a man in a position of power and he used it like an iron rod.

"How can I help you young Percivel?" he boomed.

"Frasten I'm here to ask for your help." he replied.

Frasten closed his office door, Percivel wondered what the room looked like. No one had ever seen the inside of it.

"If I can help you I will." he replied.

"The Master of Law has just arrived in the town."

"He's actually here?" Frasten replied sounding slightly surprised.

"He's here to help us with the murders."

"Outsiders always think their help is needed." he said with anger in his voice.

"I'll be honest I will welcome his help. I'm here because he has asked to look through the archives. He wants to look through the reports from when this has happened before, to see if he can see anything we've missed." Percivel said.

"I've been through those archives many times, if there was anything of note do you not think I would have told you."

Percivel could feel things were starting to go badly.

"I'm sure you would have, but what could it hurt, some fresh eyes looking over them. Master Jones and his assistant Lieutenant Grant just would like to see them."

Frasten thought about it for a few moments, "Do these men seem competent?"

"It's a man and a woman and yes they do."

Frasten stood up, "No, there will be no women allowed in the archive!" he exploded.

"I'll be with them and I would view it as a personal favour to me."

"You are not to leave them alone for even a second and I do not wish to meet them."

"Thank you."

"Do not thank me." Frasten walked back into his office and slammed the door.

…...

Percivel led the Curator and Kara down a long spiral staircase that led to the town's archives under the church. Kara could see her breath as they walked down the never ending staircase. She was very glad of the warmth coming from the coat the Curator had given her.

"I take it this Preacher Frasten was to busy to come say hello?" the Curator asked.

"He asked that I not introduce you to him," he replied, "He doesn't realise that tonight at the dinner he'll be meeting you whether he wants to or not."

As they reached the bottom of the stairs Percivel took a pack of fire lighters out of his pocket before he lit three lanterns. He landed one to Kara and then one to the Curator. He opened two large wooden doors before taking the third lantern for himself.

"Welcome to the town archives." he said.

"Wow." The Curator said.

There were rows upon rows of large leather bound books.

"The entire history of our little town."

"Do you have any idea of where we need to be looking?" Kara asked, slightly overwhelmed by the amount of books in front of her.

"I know the years we're looking for, but other than that I'm afraid we may be here for a while." Percivel replied.

Five hours later Kara sighed as she closed yet another book.

"Still nothing." she said.

"AHAAAAAA!" the Curator exclaimed the moment she finished speaking.

"Please tell me you've found something relevant to what we're looking for this time." she said.

"Yes I do believe it is," he replied, "Just like now there was no link between any of the victims. The Peacekeeper back then actually saw the monster. He said it was the most horrific thing he had ever seen. Grey skin, a large stretched mouth with rows of fangs. Black eyes that scared him to his very soul, bone tendrils growing out of it's head like dreadlocks down its back. It moved slowly but every movement it made came with a noise like the snapping of bones. He said that even when it appeared in a crowd full of people it only went for one person when it could have gone for anyone. One of the deputy Peacekeepers tried to stop it and it tore him apart. He goes onto say that it seemed to have no other conscious thought other than to kill that one person."

"Does it say where to find this thing?" Kara asked.

The Curator scanned the next few paragraphs, "No. But it does say that he tried to kill it with various different weapons and none of them worked. When he did that it started to come after him. The only reason he survived was because morning came and it vanished never to return until now."

"So we don't know where it is, we don't know what will kill it and we have no idea who it will go against next?" Percivel replied.

"Basically yes, looks like we're going to be having quite the exciting time!" the Curator said.

"Master Jones, I'm not too sure I agree with your definition of exciting!" Percivel added.

The Curator smiled at him, "I do love a challenge."

"Percivel can you think of anything that links the people who have been killed this time around?" Kara asked.

He shook his head, "No, I've been thinking about that one since this started happening."

"I do have one question. Why has no one been and removed the remains of those poor people?" the Curator asked.

"Trust me that's the first thing I wanted to do, my grandfather and the Preacher told me that I had to leave them, that to do anything other than that would anger the beast further."

"Well guess what we're doing tomorrow?" the Curator said with a smile.

"I've been having a thought, do you think we should bring in some help?" Kara asked.

"I've been wondering the same thing," the Curator replied, "We'll hold off for now. If things get worse we will."

As the three investigators started back up the steps Frasten appeared from the far end of the room. He had been listening to everything. He really didn't think they were up for the challenge of hunting this creature. Even though he hadn't met them he had an immediate dislike for the Curator and Kara.

…...

The Curator and Kara sat in the back of a carriage as it took them to Maximilian's home on the outskirts of town.

"I really wish you'd let me stay behind." Kara said.

"And miss out on all the fun tonight has to hold? I'm quite convinced that Maximilian knows more than he's letting on. Plus this Preacher Frasten sounds like an interesting character."

"You did hear Percivel say that I will be the only woman there tonight? How most of the town's elite don't agree with women having any power. You know I'm going to be squirming in my seat all night?"

"Don't worry, I won't let anyone be horrible to you. Plus I'm sure young Percivel will come to your rescue."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

The Curator smiled, "I think he likes you."

Kara shook her head, "No. I hope not."

The Curator didn't have chance to ask her why as the carriage came to a sudden stop.

"I think we're here." he said with a smile.

"You know I am armed." Kara said with a smile.

The Curator laughed. Moments later the door of the carriage opened and they both stepped out. The house was unlike any of the others they'd seen in the town, it was huge. A man trundled over to them.

"Master of Law?" the young man asked.

"Yes, Harry Jones and this is my associate Lieutenant Kara Grant."

The young man signalled to the large front door, "Please if you would follow me."

The Curator and Kara looked at each other before following the young man out of the cold and into the large house.

"May I please take your coats?" he asked.

They both took them off and handed them over.

"If you would like to go through this door on your left, everyone else is already here."

"Thank you." the Curator said.

The entry way that led to the hall was grand and spectacular. As they walked into the room the others were waiting for them. The living room was huge, bigger than either of them had seen before. Kara felt all eyes suddenly turn to her. She immediately felt uncomfortable. Percivel walked over to them, his friendly face smiling.

"Everyone I would like to introduce to to the Master of Law Harry Jones and Lieutenant Kara Grant." he said.

Percivel introduced the rest of the room, Preacher Frasten, the town Physician Jora Tarken, the owner of the town bank Harken Breece, the town's historian Jasper Stark and the transport chief Rikard Tanns.

"So did you find what you were looking for earlier?" Frasten boomed.

The Curator took an instant disliking for the man, "We found a few entries but not much." he said.

"Hopefully your be able to finally end this nightmare!" Frasten replied.

"Let's hope so," The Curator said, "I'm sure my assistant and I will be able to help Percivel get to the bottom of this once and for all.

Frasten turned to Kara and seemed to acknowledge her for the first time.

"So you are or were a soldier?" he asked.

Kara nodded her head, "I was yes. Seems like another lifetime ago." she replied.

"So it's true that our brothers and sisters elsewhere have allowed their women to be equal to their men?!" he replied.

"They have indeed," The Curator said quickly. He could tell that Kara was about to say something back that most likely wouldn't have gone down very well, "If it wasn't for her I know I would be the worse for ware."

"I look forward to seeing if you are indeed worthy of Harry's praise." Frasten said.

"Oh I'm sure you'll see one or two things from me that will make you take notice." Kara replied with a forced smile.

Two hours later they all finished the third course of their dinner. Kara had no idea what the meat she had just eaten was, but it tasted like beef, but looked and smelled nothing like it. Percivel had made sure he sat next to her to keep her company during the meal.

"So how does a man clearly as young as you become the Master of Law?" Jora asked as he wiped wine away from his face.

"I'm not as young as I appear," the Curator replied, "I like Kara was once a soldier. When I left the service I travelled for a long time. There is only so much fighting a man can put himself through. I kind of fell into where I am now."

"So how old are you Harry?" Maximilian asked.

The Curator looked over at Kara before turning back to the others, "Lets just say, you'd never believe me."

As he finished speaking the lights flickered off. The power in the whole house seemed to have gone.

"Oh not again." Maximilian shouted, "Those workmen promised me they'd fixed it. I do apologise everyone."

As he finished speaking a cracking sound echoed through the room, the sound reminded the Curator and Kara of breaking bones. No one spoke. The Curator grabbed Kara's hand, she held on tightly. The noise got louder, it was inside the room. The guests started trying to run to the door and just ended crashing into things and ended up on the floor.

"Everyone stay calm." Percivel said.

No one listened to him. The Curator fumbled in his pocket for his sonic screwdriver. He changed the controls with his thumb. As he activated it, the purple light illuminated the room. Kara screamed. Before the Curator could register the monster standing over Maximilian he realised he had never heard his best friend scream before. He turned the screwdriver towards the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen in his long life. For the first time in as long as he could remember he was lost for words. As Kara and Percivel both opened fire with their guns, the lights flashed back on, the monster and Maximilian were gone.


	3. Chapter 3

As everyone ran for the door, The Curator walked to the spot where the monster and Maximilian had been until moments before. He held out the sonic screwdriver in front of him and let it take readings. It beeped when it had finished and he looked at the results.

"Anything?" Kara asked.

The Curator shook his head before putting the screwdriver back into his jacket pocket, "Nothing," he replied, "They've just gone."

He turned to Percivel and Kara who were both putting their guns back in their holsters.

"That was very silly." he said.

"What was?" Percivel replied.

"Shooting at it, you were both there when I read to you what had happened when people tried to stop it before." the Curator replied.

"I'm sorry about your grandfather." Kara said.

"Thank you." he replied quietly.

"Why didn't you stop it?" Frasten boomed as he marched back into the room, "Why didn't you do something?!" he demanded. He bounded over to the Curator, stopping inches away from him. His alcohol stained breath making the Curator cough slightly.

"Did you see that thing?" the Curator asked quietly.

"Yes I did and I saw you do nothing to stop it." Frasten replied.

"You an I both know there is nothing that any of us could have done."

"I am going to write to your superiors and make sure you are punished for this." Frasten replied jabbing the Curator in the chest with his fat index finger.

Kara could see her friend was trying to keep his own temper in check.

"I am not a person you want to threaten," he said the anger clear in his voice, "You have no idea who you are talking too, you have to idea of the lengths I am prepared to go too to get something done. You are nothing to me, an insignificant little man with a huge ego and a fear of women. You are an insect in the scheme of things. What do you do to insects that pester you and won't leave you alone?"

Frasten was stepping backwards, clearly flustered, he was not used to being spoken to in this way.

"What no answer? You CRUSH them. You are that insect Frasten and you are starting to highly irritate me. While we are here you are not going to get in our way, you are not going to make your presence known unless Percivel, Kara or myself ask for you. Now I don't know what your customs are now, what you are going to have to do or if you have an assistant mayor to take over. But what you are going to do is you and the rest of your elite friends here are going to go and you are going to deal with all those things. I am sorry you have lost your friend, but I advise you not to test me."

Frasten was lost for words. He looked at Percivel and then back to the Curator.

"You may go now." the Curator said.

The fat man turned and walked out of the room as quickly as his legs would allow him.

"Right," the Curator said turning back to the others, "We're still no better off, we have no idea where this monster is or where he has taken your grandfather. By the way I'm sorry for your loss."

"Do you think he is definitely dead?" Percivel asked.

"From the little we know about this thing I would say if he isn't then he will be very shortly and I'm sorry but we have no way of finding him. Will you be able to carry on assisting us? We can carry on if you need to grieve."

The big man nodded his head, "No. I will mourn my grandfather once this is over. I can keep my emotions in check."

"You don't need to be strong for us," Kara said, "We can handle this."

"I need to help you, I'm going to find that thing and discover how to kill it." Percivel replied.

"Good man," the Curator replied.

"There is one thing I need to know though." he said.

"What's that?" the Curator said.

"Who are you both? I know you're not who you say, but I know you're here to help. That device you were using, I've never seen anything like it." Percivel replied.

"Kara close the door if you would be so kind."

Once Kara had closed the door the Curator turned to Percivel again.

"Firstly you're right we are here to help. My name is the Curator and I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This really is Kara Grant. She is a human from the planet Earth. We travel through time and space together. We're visitors to your world. When we come across things like this then we help as much as we can."

Percivel had a confused look across his face, "You're aliens?"

The Curator smiled and nodded. He looked at Kara she smiled too.

"We really are here to help. When we booked into the hotel they asked for identification. The Curator showed the women a piece of psychic paper and it told her he was the Master of Law, we kind of went with it." Kara said.

Percivel looked at them both, "I just needed to know. I'll keep what you've told me to myself."

"That would be greatly appreciated my friend," the Curator said putting his hand on the large man's shoulder, "I suggest you get done whatever it is you need to do and then we'll come for you in the morning. We're going to the bone forest to see what we can find."

…...

The Curator slept soundly that night. As he waited for Kara to come to his room so they could eat breakfast, he looked out of the window and watched the people walk back and forth outside. The snow was coming down thick and fast and he already knew it was -39 degrees. The trip to the bone forest was going to be a hard slog, but he was sure they'd be able to make it. He had been considering summoning the TARDIS. He could hide it right here in the room an no one other than he and Kara would be able to see it. He snapped back to the present when Kara walked in.

"Good morning." he said.

"Good morning to you too." she replied.

They both took up seats by the fire, a table in between them was full of cold meats, bread, fruits neither of them had seen before, what looked to Kara like Muffins and four eggs, three times the size of duck eggs, that had been hard boiled.

"I'm afraid they don't seem to have anything like tea or coffee, if we want one we can go back to the TARDIS after we'd been to the forest." the Curator said.

Instead they had water and three glass jugs, each full of a different type of fruit juice.

"This will be more than okay." Kara replied.

They both sat silently for a few moments eating food and then looking into the fire.

"Can I be honest with you?" Kara asked.

"Always." The Curator replied.

"That thing terrifies me. Part of me wants to beg you to go back to the TARDIS and leave this place and never look back." she said. "I know that makes me a coward."

The Curator turned to look at her, "You Kara are no coward, you're the single bravest person I've ever met and with friends like mine, that is saying a lot. I don't blame you for thinking that, I'm not going to lie I've thought it myself. But what about Percivel? We'd be leaving our friend here to potentially die."

"He could come with us." Kara replied.

"Do you really think he'd leave his people with that thing killing them?"

Kara sighed, "No. It's strange, history says I'm dead but since meeting you I've never been more happy to be alive. Even when Jack had me strapped to that table I wasn't scared, well not like this."

"It's only natural to be scared. I've been terrified more times that I can remember." the Curator said.

"What gets you through that fear?"

The Curator took a sip from his glass of fruit juice.

"A promise. One that the Warden, Stationmaster and I made to the universe. I've done some terrible things Kara, things I hope you never find out. But we try and make up for them by helping people, people like Percivel, people like the ones in this town."

Kara looked at him. He looked sad, he often had that look on his face. She wanted to know what he'd done, what they could have done that was so terrible.

"You know one day you're going to have to tell me. You make hints like this all the time, there are only so many times I'll let it slide before you'll have to tell me." Kara said.

The Curator turned and looked at her.

"I know you better than anyone I've ever met. I know you, I know the man you are. I know that no matter how horrific it is what you did, what you all did, I know it was because you had too and there was no other way. You're not the only one who has done terrible things. I've killed people, if I wasn't a soldier I've killed more than enough to be known as a serial killer. Because it was war though it's "okay". But everyone I've killed was fighting for the same reasons I was, just on another side. They've all had families and friends who miss them, who loved them. When it all boils down to it I took their life, I took away a persons child, a persons brother or sister."

The Curator reached over and took hold of her hand. She looked at him and he smiled at her.

"When this is all over I'll tell you what we did." the Curator said.

She smiled back at him, "Come on, lets go to that creepy forest."

"One thing first." the Curator picked up his jacket from the back of the chair and took his sonic screwdriver out. He pressed a couple of the buttons and then activated it. Kara smiled as she heard the noise that had become her favourite sound. The TARDIS appeared in the corner of the room. It would be unseen to anyone other than the Curator and Kara.

"Let's get some better fire-power." the Curator smiled.

…...

As Percivel walked to the bone forest he thought of his grandfather. He had been a cranky horrid old man. He never had anything nice to say about anyone. He had often been equally if not more horrid to his grandson. Percivel had thought though that he would be upset when his grandfather had died. He had raised him after all. But so far he hadn't shed a tear. He hadn't felt remotely how he'd felt when his parents had died. Maybe it would come after he had helped the Curator and Kara defeat the monster?

"Percivel?" the Curator said.

"Yes, sorry I was deep in thought." he replied.

"Are there any caves nearby?" The Curator asked.

"I think so. No one has been through the bone forest. From being children we have it drilled into us that we should never walk through it. We were always told it would make the curse stronger."

"I've never believed in curses," the Curator replied, "If you don't believe in them then you don't give them power. Will you be willing to cross the forest to look for the caves?"

Percivel nodded his head, "Whatever it takes." he replied.

A few minutes later they could see bones start to appear along the side of the road. He watched the Curator as he waved the silver device around. He had never seen anything like it. The purple light and the noise.

"Kara what is that the Curator is using?" he asked.

"His sonic screwdriver. It's a scientific device. To be fair it does an awful lot of things. He showed me it briefly, he said he'll get me one at some point. I know there are hundreds of thousands of settings on it. From unlocking and locking doors to doing full medical scans it's impressive. He told me the only thing it won't work on is a deadlock." Kara replied.

"I think I'll stick with this." he said patting to the holstered firearm.

"I always feel much better when I have mine. The Curator doesn't always like my carrying it."

"Is he against violence and war?"

Kara shook her head, "No, he just likes to avoid it where he can. He's seen a lot of it in his 250 plus years."

"TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY?!" he exclaimed.

The Curator gave them both a look and then went back to scanning the area.

"Apparently that's young for a Time Lord. His people when they're badly hurt or dying they can regenerate themselves and start again."

"Wouldn't that be a neat trick?" Percivel said.

"I don't know, I'm not sure I like the idea of potentially living forever. I should be dead as it is. Knowing that I only have a relatively short lifespan makes me want to see as much as I can while I can."

"Can I ask what do you mean you should be dead?" he asked.

"I was a soldier caught in the middle of a very violent war. I was on a mission to stop it, it was a suicide mission but I knew it had to be done. Just as I was about to die he appeared and saved me. In my time I'm recorded as being dead." Kara replied.

"Why didn't you tell people you survived?"

"Because it would have changed history and a lot of good came out of my death."

"So are you two together?"

"What?" Kara asked.

"Sorry, it's just, you two seem very close."

"We are. He's the best friend I've ever had. And to answer your question no we're not. He's still too much in love with his late wife to love anyone else that way. We met each other at a time when neither of us had felt as though we had anyone."

"So his people, the Time Lords, where is there planet?"

"Now that is a long story," she said with a laugh, "I'll tell you it when we get in the warm later on. It's very very complicated."

"I've found him," the Curator said quietly, "I've found your grandfather."

Kara and Percivel rushed over to him.

"I'm so sorry Percivel." the Curator said patting the man on the shoulder.

His grandfather's remains lay strewn over blood soaked snow. His head was the only part of him where anything was intact. The monster had torn it off and impaled it on a short tree trunk. His bones from the rest of his body had bits of muscle and skin attached to them in places. He had quite literally been torn apart. His liver was half gone. Teeth marks showed where it had been torn in half.

"I want to take his remains back. I know Frasten always said we have to leave the dead here, but I don't care. I've always hated that we listen to the likes of him and don't respect our dead. This place is haunted by hundreds of nightmares and no one cares."

The Curator took out a folded body bag from his coat pocket and handed it to Percivel.

"I thought, if we found him, that you'd want to bring him back." the Curator said.

"Thank you." he said taking it off him.

The Curator made sure they picked up every one of Maximilian's old bones and they put him gently in the bag. Percivel fastened it and then placed it on top of a giant flat tree stump.

"As far as I know, there is a cave entrance over there." Percivel said.

"Here we go!" the Curator said.

The Curator led the way. They all walked in single file, making sure they didn't step on any of the remains.

A few minutes later they were standing in front of a rock formation, the entrance to a cave before them.

"So did anyone bring a torch?" Kara asked.

"I knew I'd forgotten something," the Curator replied, "I'll send for the TARDIS."

Percivel reached inside one of his many coat pockets and took out a large flash light.

"Round here it's best to never leave home without one." he said with a grin.

"After you then." the Curator said.

Both Percivel and Kara took their side-arms out of their holsters before they walked inside. Even with the light from the flash light and the Curator's sonic screwdriver it was still darker than anywhere any of them had been before. There was a horrid smell, all three of them had smelled it before, it was the stench of death. The cave began to open out and it became lighter from a hole above them that let the daylight and bits of snow in. Percivel turned off the torch. There were more bones around them. In one corner on a flat rock were three objects. The Curator walked up to them and scanned them with the screwdriver.

"What are they?" Percivel asked.

The Curator checked the readings from his screwdriver.

"Well this is interesting." he said.

"What is?" Kara asked.

"They're all linked. Linked by some kind of psychic force."

"Can you break it?" Kara asked.

The Curator shook his head, "No I can't." he picked up one of the objects, "Whatever the monster is I think someone is controlling it."

"What?! How?!" Percivel exclaimed.

"This field isn't natural, it's old, but it isn't natural. Someone stumbled on this place," he ran his hand over what looked like an imprint of another object, "That someone figured all this out, that person is in control of that monster."

He handed Kara one of the objects and Percivel another. He held the third one in his hand.

"What are we supposed to do with these?" Kara asked.

"I think they will lead us to whatever should have been there," he said pointing to the imprint, "Whoever has it is controlling it. We find it and we can stop this, hopefully for good."

"Won't the monster be attracted to these?" Percivel asked.

"Perhaps, but they also might keep us safe from it."

"That's a big assumption." Kara said.

"You know me Kara, those are the assumptions I like best." he said winking at her.


	4. Chapter 4

The following day the preparations for the Star Festival were well and truly under way. There had been no new sightings of the monster. They had decided to keep what they had found in the cave to themselves. The Curator walked through the town on his own, trying to keep out of peoples way, but at the same time trying to take in as much of his surroundings and the layout as possible.

"Pinklenuts sir?"

The Curator turned to see a young man standing next to a cart. An amazing smell came from the cooking pot on the cart.

"I don't have any money on me. Which is a shame because they smell amazing." the said.

"No sir you don't pay, everything for the Star Festival is free. Have you never been before sir?"

The Curator shook his head, "No I haven't. But in that case I would most definitely like to try some."

The young man handed him a paper bag, full of the hot nuts. They looked like chestnuts but smelled nothing like them. The Curator tried one and it was nothing like he had ever tasted before. The spicy heat from them made his tongue and lips tingle in a very satisfying way. It reminded him of when he had taken his wife to Victorian England one christmas and they had eaten roasted chestnuts as they walked around.

"You'd love it here Sarah." he said to himself and smiled.

By the time Kara joined him he was half way through his third bag of Pinklenuts and his second cup of some kind of hot cider.

"You're making yourself at home." she said with a smile.

He smiled back, "You have to try these nuts and this cider." he said holding both out towards her.

"I'm allergic to nuts." Kara replied, but she did take the cider and took a sip, "Wow, where did you get this from?"

The Curator pointed over to the stand. Moments later Kara was back with her own glass.

"So how does it look?" she asked.

"I've found the perfect place for us to watch everything tonight, should anything happen." the Curator said.

"Have you seen Percivel yet today?" Kara asked.

"No not yet. He said he was going to take his grandfathers remains to see the physician before asking Frasten for a funeral." the Curator said.

"That's not going to go down well." Kara replied.

"Do you think we should go help?" the Curator asked putting another nut in his mouth.

"Tell you what, I'll go see if he's okay, you eat your nuts and check the place out." Kara said.

The Curator smiled and nodded as he munched on another Pinklenut.

…...

"What do you mean no?" Percivel said.

"I mean just that. I cannot touch these remains, you should not have brought them here to me." Jora Tarken said as he backed away from the open body bag on the table in front of him. He seemed visibly shaken and almost scared.

"This was my grandfather, your friend, this town's mayor. He deserves a funeral. He shouldn't be left by the side of a road, none of them should."

"It's just not the way it's done," Jora replied, his voice trembling, "It will anger the beast."

"You don't worry about angering me?" Percivel replied banging his large fist onto the table.

"We all saw that beast. I don't want it coming after me. Quite frankly, no, I don't care about angering you compared to that, that, thing." Jora said back.

As Percivel moved towards the terrified old man, Frasten barged into the physicians examination room.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Frasten boomed.

"Maximilian's remains," Jora said pointing to the bag of bones, "He brought them here."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Frasten replied, "You know it is forbidden to remove bones from there. You've brought more doom on us!"

"I want my grandfather to have a proper funeral, I demand it!"

"You demand NOTHING!" Frasten said, "You will get no funeral from me. You will take those remains back or god help me boy.."

Percivel grabbed him by the collar and with all his considerable strength pushed the preacher against the wall.

"What? That sounded like a threat, what are you going to do?"

"Have you removed from your position for a start." Frasten replied.

Percivel clenched his fist together and prepared to take a swing at Frasten.

"STOP!"

Percivel turned and saw Kara walk into the room. He let go of Frasten immediately.

"My grandfather is getting a funeral, even if I have to bury him in the cemetery myself."

"You will do no such thing boy." Frasten replied.

"You would deny the Mayor of your town a funeral?" Kara asked.

"This is nothing to do with you." Frasten replied, "You don't understand the ways of our town."

"I understand you're scared. Scared of something you don't understand. Don't deny this man one of his basic rights." Kara said.

"I will not be lectured by a woman," Frasten said, "Percivel you have doomed us to more attacks by the beast by doing this."

"Does it say anywhere that is what will happen? Or is it just conjecture?" Kara asked.

Frasten back handed her across the face without warning, sending her crashing to the ground. In the blink of an eye Percivel had his side arm drawn and pressed against Frasten's forehead.

"You son of a bitch." he said, rage clear in his voice, "Are you alright Kara?" he asked.

Kara wiped blood away from her mouth, "I'm fine."

"How dare you point your weapon at me!" Frasten boomed.

Percivel pulled the hammer back, "Give me a reason not to kill you for that?"

"You're the law man." Jora said meekly cowering behind the desk.

After helping Kara to her feet with his free hand, he look his badge off the front of his coat. He looked at it for a moment, it was what made him the law man. He threw it onto the ground.

"Not any more." he said, "Any other reasons?"

Everyone could feel the tension in the room. Kara was beginning to wonder which way this was going to go. She thought she might be the only way of resolving this without bloodshed. As she opened her mouth to ask Percivel to stop, Frasten spoke first.

"Okay," he said his voice breaking, "I will give your grandfather a funeral, you you, you have my word."

"If you go back on your word." Percivel said pressing the barrel harder into the trembling man's forehead.

"I won't, I swear." he said.

Percivel felt Kara's hand on his arm. He lowered the weapon and put it safely back in it's holster.

"But know that any more deaths now are on you." As Frasten finished speaking Kara punched him in the face, sending the huge man crashing to the ground in a thud.

"You want to be lucky Harry wasn't here right now," she said looking down on him, "He would have killed you on the spot for hitting me like that."

Moments later Percivel burst out onto the street, anger clear on his face. Kara followed him, spitting blood onto the snow as she followed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Trust me I've been hit harder than that before." Kara replied.

"Would the Curator really have killed him?"

Kara nodded her head, remembering him kill Jack and all those Tzeraat who had taken her.

"Then I should of."

"No," Kara said taking hold of his hand to calm him down, "Look you got what you wanted, your grandfather will get his funeral."

"Even if it cost me my job." Percivel replied.

"The Curator will sort that, he's the Master of Law after all." she said with a smile.

Percivel laughed, "So he is."

…...

The Curator stood working at the control console in the TARDIS, which was still in his room in the hotel. He had been trying to make his sonic screwdriver scan for the monster from the readings he had taken when it took Maximilian and the readings from the cave.

He smiled as the screwdriver began to beep, "GOTCHA!" he yelled with glee.

"Been busy?" Kara asked as she poked her head through the door.

"Very, aren't you coming in ?" he asked.

"I'm not on my own, Percivel is with me." she replied.

"Bring him in." the Curator replied as he checked the screwdriver.

"Oh my!" Percivel said utterly gob smacked.

"Welcome to the TARDIS." Kara said.

"But it's huge, how is this even possible?" he said.

"Time Lord science," the Curator said, "Bigger on the inside. Did you manage to get your funeral?"

"Yes, Frasten agreed eventually." Percivel replied.

"Brilliant. What happened to your lip Kara?" he asked without even taking his eyes off the screwdriver.

"I erm, I." she said.

He put the screwdriver into his pocket and turned to her. He walked up to her, a kind look on his face, which hid the rage she could see in his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked quietly as he put his hands on her shoulders.

"Things got a little out of hand with Frasten." she replied.

The Curator closed his eyes and let out a slow deep breath.

"It's okay, it's been dealt with. I hit him back, a lot harder than he hit me."

The Curator smiled, "That's my girl." and kissed her on the forehead.

"And I had to stop Percivel from decorating the wall with Frasten's brains." Kara said.

The Curator turned to Percivel smiled and winked, nothing else was said on the matter.

"Right, I've figured out a way to detect the monster. As soon as the sonic detects it, it will start to beep to let us know. Then we can use it as a motion tracker to find it." the Curator said.

"And then we do what?" Kara asked.

"I've managed to isolate the psychic link coming from the objects. Now we can track it and find out where the fourth object is. I think whoever has it is in control of the monster." he said.

"What's to stop whoever it is from turning it on us?" Percivel asked.

"There is always that chance, I don't think whoever it is will have enough time. Plus now I think we will be able to disrupt the link and stop the monster from going after its victim." the Curator said.

"Are you sure it will work?" Percivel asked.

"More or less." the Curator replied.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"That means he has no idea." Kara replied.

…...

As the Curator, Kara and Percivel walked onto the town square it was already full of hundreds if now thousands of people all enjoying the Star Festival. Above them in the beautifully clear night sky, hundreds of meteors whizzed past them. They walked through the crowds of people to the place the Curator had decided was the best place to be. The Curator made a quick stop by the Pinklenut stall he had been to earlier on. Mikelus, the young man the Curator had become friends with during his many visits during the day smiled as he saw him.

"Harry good to see you." Mikelus said, "Would you like another bag?"

"Three please," The Curator replied, "Having a good evening?"

Mikelus smiled and nodded, "That I am, I love this time of year."

Mikelus handed him the three bags. The Curator who had managed to get some money put a note in the young man's hand.

"I told you earlier, these are free tonight." he said.

"I know, but you do good work, I believe in rewarding good work," he said with a smile, "I'll see you later young sir."

As he turned he handed one bag to Percivel and one to Kara.

"Curator I told you I'm allergic to nuts." she said.

The Curator smiled, "Open your mouth."

Kara wondered what he was about to do, but did as he said. The Curator put a small while tablet into her mouth. It melted on her tongue immediately.

"What was that?" she said.

"You're no longer allergic to nuts," he said smiling, "You're welcome."

Kara reluctantly put one of the nuts in her mouth, expecting a bad reaction any second, but none came.

"Oh wow." Kara said.

"Told you."

As they walked through the crowds of people looking up at the sky and enjoying themselves, the Curator watched the people.

Three hours later and nothing had happened. The three of them were having moments when they forgot why they were there, they were enjoying themselves. The Curator saw Frasten and the other "senior" members of the town sitting around a table together on a raised platform. There had been no public announcement regarding Maximilian's death. They had decided to wait until the festival was over.

"Curator." Kara said.

The Curator turned to her, "Yes, what's wrong?" he asked.

"The sonic." she said.

Suddenly he became aware of the buzzing coming from his pocket. He reached in and took it out. The purple light flashing on the end. He extended the screwdriver and read the readout.

"It's here." he said.

Both Kara and Percivel reached for their weapons.

"No." the Curator said, "Come on."

The Curator held the sonic out in front of him as they worked their way through the crowds.

"Where is it?" Percivel asked.

The Curator didn't reply. The beeping on the sonic began to get faster and faster. Kara and Percivel ran into the Curator as he stopped dead.

"Where is it?!" Percivel said again.

The Curator pointed directly in front of him. They found themselves standing in front of Mikelus' Pinklenut stand.

"Holy shit." Kara said.

"Do you guys have your objects?" the Curator asked.

"Yes." they both said in unison.

In front of them Mikelus, the young man the Curator had become friends with that day was transforming into the monster they had been looking for. He began to scream as the snapping of his bones could be heard. People around them started to scream as they saw what was happening. They ran as quickly as they could. Mikelus' young features were being torn into those of the hideous beast. It's razor sharp fangs tore through his gums. The terrifying "smile" appeared across his face. Suddenly Frasten and some of the senior council appeared next to them.

"DO SOMETHING!" Frasten yelled.

"All of you get out of here." the Curator yelled.

"You can't order us!" Jora Tarken replied.

The monster had finished it's transformation and was now staring at them. Clicking it's teeth together.

"All of you RUN!" Percivel yelled.

They didn't need telling again.

The Curator had the sonic in his hand still, trying to get every piece of data he could. The monsters gaze was fixed on the Curator, it didn't even look at Kara or Percivel. It slowly began to walk towards him. The sound of snapping and crunching bone every time it took a step was sickening.

"What do we do?" Kara asked.

"Nothing," the Curator replied, both of you two get off to the side, it's coming towards me." he said. He reached into one of his other pockets with his free hand and took out the object and held it tight.

The Curator started to step backwards as it got ever closer to him. The closer it got the more it snapped it's teeth together.

"Mikelus, it's me. Mikelus is there any of you still there?" the Curator asked.

There was no response from the monster that had once been young Mikelus. It snapped it's teeth together again and again and again. The Curator took a final step backwards and came up against a wall.

"Curator!" Kara exclaimed taking her side arm out of it's holster.

"Kara no." he whispered without taking his eyes of the monster.

Moments later it stopped millimetres away from the Curator. It snapped it's teeth together again and again and then suddenly stopped. It started to sniff him then snapped it's teeth, then sniffed him again. It's gaze moved down to the object in his hand and it looked at it for a few moments before snapping back to the Curator's face. The Curator heard Kara take the safety off her weapon. So did the monster, in a flash it snapped it's head round to look at her. She gasped and dropped her gun. In the blink of an eye it moved from being in front of the Curator to being in front of Kara. Once again it sniffed her and then snapped it's teeth together then sniffed her again. The Curator had never seen Kara look so terrified.

"Kara it's okay, it's not going to hurt you," the Curator said, "Trust me."

The Curator's voice seemed to give Kara the courage to control herself. She opened her eyes and it was gone.

"Where the hell did it go?" Percivel said.

"I'm guessing the caves." the Curator replied.

"We should go there." Percivel replied.

"No," the Curator said, "It'll take hours to get there, by then the sun will be raising. We need to look for Mikelus in the morning."

He walked over to Kara and took hold of her hand.

"Are you okay?" he said.

She nodded her head, "That was intense." she said letting out a nervous laugh.

"Plus I detected the 4th object." The Curator said with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

The Curator, Kara and Percivel all sat in the control room of the TARDIS. The Curator looking through all the data the sonic had gathered. Kara and Percivel sat on the steps leading down to the door drinking tea.

"I can't believe it's Mikelus," Percivel said, "I've known the him for years. He's a good kid, never been in trouble. I just can't get my head around the thought that he's a killer."

"I don't think he knows he is." the Curator said, "I agree he's a good kid as you say. I have a talent for spotting good people. He doesn't know. Someone is controlling him."

"Who?" Kara asked.

"The sonic detected the fourth object when the senior town members came over to us." the Curator said.

"Frasten." Percivel said grimly.

"Honestly, I'm not sure, it could have been any of them. Out of all of them, he was the one who seemed the most scared." the Curator said.

"But what motive would any of them have for the people it's had Mikelus kill?" Kara said, "There is utterly no pattern, they're not linked at all."

"It's something that we can't see yet. There is far more going on here than we know and it's been going on for a very long time." the Curator said.

"What about Mikelus?" Percivel said, "What do we do with him when we find him?"

"You have cells at the Law House?" Kara asked.

"Yes." he replied.

"Then we lock him in there." Kara said.

"Yes yes I like that. Who other than you would have a key?" the Curator asked.

"There are three keys for the cell, I have one on my key ring, the rest are in my desk. We could put them somewhere safe once he's locked up?"

"We could bring them in here?" Kara said, "Only the Curator and I can get in here."

"Yes another good idea." the Curator said.

"We have to keep the objects on us though at all times, they certainly worked last night." Percivel said.

"They did for you." the Curator said.

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

"Whoever is controlling that thing has sent it after me. But it wasn't the object that stopped it from killing me, it was the fact that I'm an alien. The way it sniffed at me and then you. It didn't know what to make of us. I've got under someone's skin." the Curator said with a smile.

…...

Mikelus awoke in his bed with a thumping headache. It must have been a good Star Festival, he thought, he couldn't remember the end of the night. He must have drunk too much cider. He stumbled out of bed and walked through to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror. There was dried blood across his forehead. He must have banged his head or something. He began to wash the blood away, but there was no cut. How could there be no cut? It must have been someone else's blood. As he finished washing his face he heard banging on his front door. As he dried his face he grabbed his dressing gown and put his shoes on so at least he would have a little bit of warmth when he opened the door. The banging wasn't stopping.

"Okay okay I'm coming!" Mikelus shouted.

He unlocked the front door and was met by a punch to the face. He crashed to the ground. Before he could even stand up someone grabbed him by the hair and dragged him outside. He didn't see who had grabbed him, he just knew there were a lot of people outside. Kick after kick caused pain to flow through his body.

He didn't know what was happening, why were they attacking him? Suddenly the kicks and punches stopped after a loud noise rang through the air.

Percivel had fired a shot from his gun, "Everyone back away." he yelled. He and Kara held their guns out in front of them while the Curator ran to Mikelus.

"What's happening?" the young man asked.

The Curator checked him over with the Sonic Screwdriver, "It's okay my friend, you'll be okay."

"He's the monster. I saw him change." one man yelled.

"He's coming with us and you're going home, NOW!" Percivel said.

"No, you're going home, there are more of us than you and I don't think you have it in you to shoot us." the man said smiling. He started walking towards them. The look of utter shock appeared on his face as Kara shot him in the leg.

"You're protecting that monster?!" a woman yelled.

"There is more going on than you know and we need him alive," Kara replied, "The next person who takes a step forward will get a bullet through the head. Percivel may not have killed anyone before but I have so BACK OFF."

"Percivel I need your help to move Mikelus." the Curator said.

The giant man walked over to the Curator and handed him his side arm before picking up the battered Mikelus and carrying him away.

The towns folk all moved away as the three of them walked across the square to the Law House. As they reached the door Percivel stopped.

"Dammit, my keys are inside my coat." he said.

The Curator walked to the door and unlocked it with the sonic.

"Thank you." he said.

As they walked inside the motion activated lights flickered on. As he lay Mikelus down on one of the beds in one of the cells, the Curator locked the door behind them.

"Why did they attack me?" Mikelus asked.

The Curator walked over to him, "Do you remember last night?"

"Most of it, then it's a blank and I woke up this morning, I must have drunk too much. Why did they say I was the monster? Why did they attack me like that."

The Curator looked at Kara and Percivel, took a deep breath and replied, "Last night you did indeed transform into the monster."

Mikelus laughed, which caused him a lot of pain.

"You're crazy." he said.

"That may be, but you still turned into the monster." the Curator said to him.

"Prove it." Mikelus snapped back.

The Curator took his sonic out of his pocket, he twisted it round twice and then extended it. He held it up, projected out of the end against the wall was Mikelus making the horrific transformation. Once the transformation had ended the Curator switched it off.

"Are you going to kill me?" he asked.

"No," Percivel replied, "Someone is controlling you, making you do this. We intend on finding out who and making sure this stops."

"That monster has killed people, that means I've killed people." he said starting to cry.

"Listen to me Mikelus, we're going to patch you up and then we're going to get to the bottom of this, you have my word. None of this is your fault." the Curator said.

"Why am I turning into that thing?" he asked.

"I'm not sure yet. But that's something else I'll find out and I'll find out how to make it stop." the Curator said.

"How can you promise that?" Mikelus asked.

"Because it's what I do." the Curator replied.

Percivel sat next to him with a first aid kit. Kara followed the Curator over to the window. Outside people were finding out what had just happened.

"So what now?" Kara asked.

"Now you and Percivel stay here and protect this poor young man." the replied.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I'm going to find out who is doing this and stop them." he replied.

Kara pulled up her right trouser leg and unholstered the side arm strapped to her ankle.

"You're not going without this." she said handing it and the reloads to him.

"Thank you." he said taking it from her.

"Just come back." she said.

"You know me, I'll always come back." he said.

She reached out and put her hand on his cheek, "Come back looking like this."

He smiled and winked before unlocking the door and venturing out into the cold.

"Where is he going?" Percivel asked.

"To find out who has done this. Where are the other keys to this cell?" Kara asked.

"Top draw of my desk." Percivel replied, "They're labelled '1'."

Kara rushed over to the desk and opened the draw. She rifled through some things until she saw the two keys, picking them up and putting them in her pocket.

"I'm going to take these to the TARDIS." she said.

"Be quick." he replied.

…...

The Curator stood in front of the church. He had been to see Jora Tarken, but there was no sign of the man. Frasten was next on the list. He felt the gun in his left pocket and the sonic screwdriver in his right. He turned the handle on one of the giant doors and it opened. The Curator walked inside, it was as freezing cold as it had been the last time he was here. It was a beautiful place of worship. While the Curator followed no religion, he still found beauty in the buildings the different races in the universe met to worship.

He walked over to Frasten's office, took a deep breath and knocked on the door. There was no reply at all. He waited a few minutes, listening for any noise from inside. When he was sure there was no one there he tried the handle, this one was locked. He reached into his right coat pocket and took the sonic out. Moments later he heard the click of the lock opening and put the device back in his pocket and stepped inside.

Frasten's office was quite large. It was toasty warm from the various heaters dotted around the room. There were books everywhere, he clearly spent a lot of time in here reading. The Curator paused for a second.

"Well that's odd." he said to himself. Many of the books in front of him originated from other planets on the other side of the universe.

He walked over to Frasten's large wooden desk and sat in the oversized leather chair.

"Now that is comfortable." he said to himself.

The desk itself was quite sparse. He opened the top draw and took out a large book. He set it down in front of him, opened it and his mouth fell open. Inside was all the details of how to make one of the monsters and how to control it. That son of a bitch the Curator thought. There were notes all throughout the book in different hand writing from the people who had had it before. It read that not everyone could become one of the beasts. Everyone that had come before had been from Mikelus' family. In it's monster form it could only be controlled by one person, but that one person had to be very careful indeed. While the monster would kill anyone it was instructed to and there was no way of stopping it, if it became aware it was being controlled it would turn on that person. This could be useful he thought.

…...

Kara rushed into the TARDIS, closing the door behind her. Where should I put them? She thought to herself. She turned around on the spot, looking at the library section of the room and then at the museum side. She stopped when she saw the Dalek head. Taking the keys out of her pocket she rushed over and placed them inside it, confident they wouldn't be found. She would have put them inside one of the many thousands of safes in the room, but she would need a sonic screwdriver for that. She smiled and then went back into the Curator's room, after she had closed the door she jumped when she saw Frasten sat in one of the chairs facing her and the TARDIS.

"Now this explains a lot." he said.

"So it is you." Kara said having regained her composure.

"Indeed it is. I wondered why the monster didn't kill your friend last night, now I know, you're Time Lords."

"What do you know of Time Lords?" she asked.

"Oh I'm familiar with lots of alien races," he replied with a smile.

"So who are you? Messing around in other peoples affairs, trying to save the innocent, that must make him the Doctor." Frasten said.

Kara smiled, "That's where you're wrong."

"Even more interesting!"

"You know we only guessed this morning that it was because we're alien. Up until then we thought it must have been because we have one of these each." Kara reached into her pocket and took out her object.

Frasten's face fell, "You have no idea what you have in your hands, I demand you give it to me at once!" He got up from his chair, now very clearly angry but stopped when Kara took out her gun and pointed it at him.

"Don't make me kill you." Kara said.

Frasten began to smile again, "You're not going to kill me girl. You don't have it in you, most Time Lords don't."

He began walking towards her again.

"I'm not a Time Lord, I'm human." she said before pulling the trigger and shooting him in the chest. He fell to the floor with a loud crash. Kara still pointed her gun at him.

"BITCH!" he exclaimed before he spat up blood.

"I didn't want to kill you. But letting you live is better than you deserve."

Frasten began to laugh in-between coughs of blood.

"I'm glad you find death funny." she said with a smile.

"I find it very funny, especially as I can't die." he gurgled.

As he finished speaking his body began to emit golden energy.

"Son of a bitch, YOU'RE a Time Lord!"


	6. Chapter 6

Kara ran as fast as she could, her gun still in her hand. She had watched Frasten regenerate into a much younger man, but then he had passed out straight after. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she ran through the lobby. The other guests saw her and then her gun and started to scream. She ignored them completely and ran straight out of the door. She stood in the middle of the square and looked around to see if she could see the Curator. He was nowhere to be seen. She holstered her gun and ran back to Percivel. The cold air made her lungs ache as she gulped it down as she ran. When she reached the door it was locked. She banged on it frantically.

"PERCIVEL IT'S KARA, LET ME IN!" she yelled as she banged on the door.

Moments later it opened. Kara burst in and fell to the floor exhausted.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, "Are you okay?"

Kara nodded her head as she caught her breath.

"It's Frasten." she said.

"I knew it. That son of a bitch is dead." he said.

"I shot him, in the chest."

"You killed him?" he asked.

Kara shook her head, "Do you remember when I told you if the Curator is injured he can regenerate?"

"Yes, and I have a bad feeling where you're going with this."

"Frasten regenerated, he's a Time Lord like the Curator." she replied.

Ten minutes later the Curator walked in with the book under his arm. He saw Kara and immediately knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" he asked putting the book on the desk and walking over to her.

"Frasten." she said.

"Yes I know it's him, I found a book that tells you all about the monster." he replied.

"Does it mention that Frasten is a Time Lord?" Kara replied.

The Curator was utterly lost for words.

"Are, are you sure?" he asked.

"I shot him in the chest and then watched him regenerate." Kara replied.

"Did you kill him while he was regenerating?" the Curator asked.

"I didn't know I could." Kara replied.

"We are vulnerable during a regeneration. We can be killed before we have fully regenerated." he replied, "Where did you leave him?"

"Your room. He passed out after he had regenerated." Kara said.

"Come on, we have to get there now." he said.

"Oh my god, the TARDIS?!" she said.

"Only you and I can get in it, there's no way he can get in, unless we let him."

"I closed the door behind me."

"Percivel stay and watch Mikelus." the Curator said.

"What do I do if he changes?" Percivel asked.

"The cell should hold him. If he manages to escape your object should protect you. If he leaves the building then follow him." the Curator replied.

"Do you have any kind of radios?" Kara asked, "So we can keep in touch."

Percivel walked over to one of the weapons cupboards. He opened it and took out two hand held walky talkies.

"The range isn't great, but they should work." he said.

"Put them on the table." the Curator said.

Percivel put them both down. The Curator took out his sonic screwdriver and waved it over them.

"What are you doing?" Kara asked.

"We can now reach each other anywhere on the planet." the Curator replied.

…...

The Curator and Kara slowly opened the door to his room in the hotel and peered round the door. A man in his early twenties sat in the chair facing the TARDIS. He was looking at himself in a small mirror he held out in front of him.

"I thought I may as well wait for you." Frasten said, "You know I rather like this face, it's quite dashing." he said as he regarded himself.

"Who are you?" the Curator said.

"I could ask the same of you. I assumed you were the Doctor, but your young companion informed me you weren't before she quite rudely shot me in the chest." he replied still looking at himself.

"You're lucky, if had been me I would have shot you in the face." the Curator replied.

"Now now there is no need for that. We're brothers after all." Frasten replied.

"No we're not. I found your book, I know you're controlling Mikelus, I just can't figure out why." the Curator said.

Frasten chuckled to himself and stood up. The clothes he had been wearing in his former incarnation hung off him as they were far too large.

"I'll make you a deal, you tell me who you are and I'll tell you everything." Frasten replied.

The Curator turned to Kara who held her gun tightly in her hand and then turned back.

"I'm the Curator." he said.

"Not a name I'm familiar with," he replied, "How old are you?"

"Two hundred and sixty two."

"Don't lie to me Curator, I can see in your eyes you're older than that."

"Technically I'm six hundred and sixty two, but as for four hundred of them I was been held prisoner in stasis I decided not to count them. Who are you?"

Frasten smiled, "I used to be known as the Architect a very long time ago."

The Curator thought for a moment, he knew that name, then it all came back to him.

"I've heard of you. You were banished over four thousand years ago. The things you did, they were horrific."

Frasten laughed, "What I did, I did for the sake of our people. We should be able to regenerate indefinitely, but those who rule over us limited our life span. What I did was for the sake of us all."

"You experimented on people, you murdered them in some of the most horrific ways I've ever heard of."

"Those things needed to be done."

"And is that what you're doing now? Some kind of warped experiment?"

"Oh no Curator, what I'm doing now stems from my success. I finished my original regeneration cycle three thousand years ago." he said with a smile.

"But I saw you regenerate!" Kara said.

"Yes you did human. When I was stranded here I decided that I should at least try to make a life for myself. One day in that church's basement I found that book. Then I found someone I could transform and use to help me. Every life he takes gives me life force, that life force is collected in this," he said taking a small gold device out of his pocket, "Then it is transformed into regeneration energy to keep me going. So far, I have regenerated twenty seven times and I have enough energy in me for at least another thirty." he said with a smile, "Tell me Curator, how many times have you regenerated?"

"I haven't."

"So this is your true face, your true form. It's rare to meet one of us still on his first guise. Doesn't it worry you that one day you'll run out, one day you'll die?"

"Not really." he said.

"It will, trust me. I have a proposition for you. If you take me away from here, to a place of my choosing, I will share this with you. You can live forever." he smiled.

"You have nothing to offer me," the Curator said, "I already have unlimited regenerations."

"That's not possible, the Presidents, they only offer more cycles, they never remove the cap?!"

"They did for me."

"Then you must be very special indeed. Okay then if I can't tempt you that way, how about this. I have instructed our friend that when he transforms tonight, he is to kill everyone in this town." Frasten said laughing.

"You wouldn't do that," Kara said, "You need them for their energy."

"Once they're dead I will have enough for a thousand regenerations."

"But you'll be stuck here, alone." Kara said.

"No I won't, I have a TARDIS now." he said still laughing.

"Kara, kill him." the Curator said.

"With pleasure." she replied.

As she raised her gun another voice spoke.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Kara turned to see Jora Tarken with a gun pressed into the back of the Curator's head.

"Kara just do it, I'll regenerate." he said.

"I'll shoot him again mid regeneration and kill him for good." Jora replied.

Kara dropped her gun and raised her hands, "Don't kill him."

"Why are you helping him?" the Curator asked.

"Because that's what brothers do Curator." Jora replied.

"May I introduce the Speaker," Frasten said, "He was stranded here like me, we've been working together for nearly two thousand years."

Jora began to frisk the Curator. He took the gun out of his left coat pocket and the sonic screwdriver out of the other.

"What do we have here?" Frasten said as he took it from Jora.

"A sonic screwdriver, nothing of importance for someone like you." the Curator said.

"Oh I don't know, I do like my gadgets, I think I'll keep this one." he said putting it into his inside jacket pocket.

Once Kara had been revealed of her weapons, Frasten held the two TARDIS keys in his hand. He smiled. He turned to the door and inserted the first key, it wouldn't turn. He tried it again and nothing. Then he tried the second key, the same again, nothing happened.

"Why do these keys not work?" he yelled.

Now it was the Curator's turn to chuckle to himself, "The perks of having one of the last TARDIS' ever made. These ones come with DNA coded keys. They will only open for Kara and myself. There are four keys for this TARDIS and not one of them will work for you."

"Open it!" Frasten yelled.

"No." the Curator simply replied.

"I'll just cut off your hand and get in that way." Frasten said.

"That won't work either, the DNA has to be alive in order for it to work." he said.

"Fine, we'll take a little trip to see Percivel, we'll see how cooperative you are when I'm slicing him to pieces."

…...

Percivel sat drinking a steaming hot cup of tea, he had tried to read a book, but he couldn't concentrate. Instead he had prepared enough weaponry to fill the table in front of him. He knew none of them could kill Mikelus if he turned and changed, but the larger rifles and shotguns may slow him down. He had loaded and unloaded all nine rounds from the chambers of his handgun. The large bullets could stop a large snow bear, but they would do nothing against, that. He laid his trusty side arm on the table and sighed to himself. Things had gone from bad to worse recently, he tried not to think about how much worse they would get before the end.

"Percivel?" Mikelus said as he awoke from his slumber.

"I'm still here buddy." he replied.

"Could I have some water please?"

"Sure thing." he replied.

He walked through to the small kitchen area in the back and poured a mug of ice cold water. He stopped for a second, with the glass in his hand when he saw a small container of poison under the bench which he had for any vermin that tried to make their home there. For a moment he considered pouring some into the water. Killing Mikelus now could be the only way of ending this before anyone else died. Sure the Curator said he could fix this and Kara really did seem to believe him when he said he could, but what if he was wrong. Before he could think about it any more he turned and walked out of the room. No, he had to have faith that his new friends could fix this. He walked over to the cell and passed the mug through the bars.

"Here you go kid." Percivel said.

Mikelus didn't reply.

"Hey Mikelus, your water." he said.

In a flash Mikelus turned, he had begun to change. He lunged for Percivel's hand. The monster's claws had begun to appear and they tore the flesh from Percivel's wrist before cowering away in the corner. Percivel snatched his arm back through and crashed to the ground. He didn't even hear the screams of Mikelus as he transformed. The blood poured from the severe wound on his wrist. He got to his feet and stumbled through to the small bathroom. He grabbed one of the towels and wrapped it as tightly as he could. It didn't do much help. The wound was so deep and the vein so damaged he knew that if he didn't get help within the next few minutes he was going to die.

He stumbled towards the door but stopped when it opened. The Curator and Kara walked in followed by Jora and who he assumed was Frasten, both pointing guns.

"Help me." Percivel said.

Frasten ignored him and turned his attention to Mikelus and smiled as he saw him changing.

"Take these cuffs off me now." the Curator said.

"No." Frasten replied.

"If you don't Percivel will die." the Curator replied.

"No." Frasten said again, "Let the fool bleed to death."

Anger flashed across the Curator's face.

"I'll give you the TARDIS." he said.

This properly caught Frasten's attention.

"How can I believe you?"

"If I break my word, kill me." the Curator replied.

"What makes you think I'm not going to do that already?" Frasten said with a chuckle.

"If he dies, before you kill me, I'll make sure you never set foot in my TARDIS." the Curator said.

Frasten looked at him for a few moments. He could tell that was definitely the truth.

"Fine, Speaker, uncuff him." Frasten ordered.

As soon as the cuffs were off the Curator rushed over to his friend.

"I'm done." Percivel said weakly.

The Curator smiled, "Oh I beg to differ."

The Curator took hold of Percivel's arm. He took off the blood drenched towel. More blood squirted from the wound.

"You'll be good as new any moment." the Curator said.

Percivel watched as golden energy came from the Curator's hand. The energy went into Percivel's wrist and straight away the pain stopped. He watched in awe as in front of his very eyes his arm started to heal. Moments later the wound was completely gone.

"Thank you." he said.

"You my friend, are very welcome." the Curator replied.

"Where is the key to this cell?" Frasten said.

Percivel looked at the Curator, unsure of what to say.

"If you don't answer me I'll blow her head off," he said turning his gun on Kara, "And there will be no way you can save her."

"Here, it's here in my pocket." he reached into his trouser pocket and fumbled through everything in there until he had it. He showed it to Frasten before throwing it to him.

"You, woman, over there with your friends." Frasten said.

Kara didn't need telling twice. She quickly walked over to her friends.

Frasten smiled as he put the key into the lock and turned it. He opened the door and stood their smiling. The monster got to his feet, it's terrifying face looking directly at him.

"Activate Curator 73J." the Curator said.

Frasten looked down as he heard the sonic screwdriver in his pocket come to life. Moments later he heard a crack and the smile fell from his face. He reached into his pocket.

"What have you done?!" Frasten said.

He took out his object. The one thing that kept him safe and in control of the monster. It was broken in half.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Frasten yelled.

"Oops," the Curator said, "Looks like someone has a new victim in mind."


	7. Chapter 7

Frasten held the two pieces of his object in his hands.

"What have you done?!" he said quietly.

He looked up as he heard the beast scream. He was terrified. It looked at him and it looked pissed off, if indeed the monster could feel pissed off.

"STOP THAT THING!" Frasten yelled to the Speaker as he scrambled to the door.

As the monster started to step towards him he began to open fire with his gun. Every round hit the beast, but nothing happened. After he fired the last round the barrel slid back, Speaker looked at it and then looked up at the monster.

"Oh no!" he said, "Help me?" he said turning his head to the Curator.

"You made your own bed." the Curator replied.

The Speaker turned back and jumped when he saw the monster inches away from his face. He was rooted to the spot in utter terror. It clicked it's teeth together again and again before screaming that terrible scream again. Before the Speaker could open his mouth to speak the monster lunged at him and dug it's razor sharp teeth into either side of his face, then in one swift motion tore it off clear down to the muscle and in places bone.

The Speaker managed to scream before the golden regeneration energy began to surround him. The beast turned to look at the Curator and clicked it's blood soaked teeth once.

"Do nothing." the Curator said, "It won't come for us unless we get in its way."

The beast turned back to the Speaker and buried both it's hands through his ribs and deep into his chest.

They all heard the Speaker scream for a moment before it tore both his hands out, each holding one of the Time Lord's hearts. The Golden energy suddenly stopped. His face was half the bloody mess it had been before and half the features of the next face the Speaker was going to take. The Beast got to its feet and started to work towards the door. The Curator turned and saw Kara and Percivel's faces showed how in shock they were from what they had just seen.

"Are you both with me?" the Curator said.

Percivel nodded, "Yeah." he said almost silently.

"Kara?" he asked.

She nodded her head as well.

"Are you okay?" the Curator asked.

She took her eye's off the horrors laying in front of her and looked at her friend.

"In all my time in that war I saw some truly horrific deaths, but nothing like that." she said.

"It's okay," he said, "I promise you that you'll be safe."

Percivel put one of his massive hands on Kara's shoulder.

"Come on, we have to go help Mikelus." Percivel said to her.

They turned to the table full of weapons and he and Kara began to arm themselves. Percivel handed the Curator a gun.

"No thank you," he said, "Believe it or not, we're not going to need them."

Kara made sure her handgun was fully loaded, "I want one, because I'm not going to die like that."

"Neither of you are going to die at all if I can help it. Remember don't try to stop the beast and it won't turn on you." The Curator said.

"Plus we still have our objects." Percivel said.

"They're useless now." the Curator said.

"Why?" Kara asked.

"When the sonic broke Frasten's object, it destroyed the psychic link connecting them together."

…...

Frasten ran as fast as he could. The baggy trousers he was wearing from his last regeneration kept getting caught around his feet and tripping him over. He could see his sanctuary in front of him. He quickly turned to look behind him. The monster was a long way behind him. He turned again and ran the short distance to the church and burst inside. There were a number of townsfolk inside praying in the cold darkness.

"GET OUT!" Frasten yelled.

A woman at the front stood up from her seat, "Who are you?" she asked.

Frasten took his gun from his pocket and shot her in the head.

"GET OUT!" he yelled again.

They all started to scream and went for the door. Frasten burst into his private office. He took the Curator's sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and looked at the readout. Two million pre installed settings and a further two hundred thousand the Curator himself had added. He threw it to the ground, he'd never have time to see if there was anything useful on there. He started to tear through his collection, there had to be something useful here, something that would give him a chance, he would be damned if he was going to die now. Suddenly he remembered something that might give him a fighting chance. He threw things out of the way till he found the chest he was looking for. He tore it open and smiled. Inside was a weapon that had started life as a Dalek's gun. He took it out and switched on the power. It still worked. Out side he could hear it. He had one more way out if it came to it. The clicking and screeching was like something out of a nightmare. In the time it took him to blink suddenly the beast was inside, standing in front of the door and staring at him, clicking it's teeth together.

The Curator, Kara and Percivel saw all of the screaming people run out of the church. One of them ran over to Percivel.

"There's a man in there," the woman sobbed, "He murdered my neighbour, he shot her in the head. And the beast, it's it's in there."

"It's okay," Percivel replied, "Go straight home. We're going to end this now." he smiled at her. She didn't need telling twice, she turned and bolted.

"Before we go in there I need you both to promise me something." the Curator said.

"Anything." Kara replied.

"Do not shoot at it unless I tell you, no matter what. If you won't give me your word, you stay here." he said.

"I promise." Kara said.

The Curator turned to Percivel.

"When it kills Frasten, will it be over?" he asked.

"Yes." the Curator replied.

"Then unless it kills him, you have my word."

"Come on."

Frasten managed to stop his hands shaking long enough to fire the weapon. It hit the monster and knocked it back a step, nothing more. It screamed at him, so loud that Frasten dropped the weapon and had to cover his ears. When it stopped Frasten looked at it before turning and running towards a hatch he knew was behind him. As his hand grabbed the handle he felt the beast grab him by the shoulder, it's claws tearing into his flesh and spinning him round on the spot. The door opened behind the beast and he saw the Curator, Kara and Percivel rush in.

"Please." he said.

The Curator wasn't sure whether he was talking to the monster or them.

"You brought this on yourself." the Curator said.

The monster turned it's head to look at the Curator and then turned back to Frasten who was now sobbing like a child.

"Please." he said again.

Before he could say it again the beast opened it's mouth and snapped it shut on Frasten's throat. Blood spurted everywhere. For a moment Frasten tried to fight it but that didn't last long. Suddenly there was a snapping noise and the head of the ancient Time Lord fell to the ground, his body met it moments later.

The monster turned to face the others and looked at them for a moment.

"Friends." it said in a monstrous, hideous voice before falling to the ground.

The Curator walked over to it picking up his sonic screwdriver on the way. He ran it over the monster as he leaned down.

"Be careful." Percivel said.

The Curator turned the monster over and they all saw it was already turning back into Mikelus.

"It's over." the Curator said.

…...

The next day the Curator and Kara were in Frasten's office putting the dead Time Lord's possessions into the TARDIS.

"Next time you're deciding where we're going." Kara said as they put the last of it inside.

"Oh I don't know, you saying go somewhere I hadn't been before has given us quite the adventure." the Curator replied.

Kara couldn't help but laugh, "Only you would think this was fun."

"Oh I don't know, I think you've had your moments here too." he replied with a smile.

They both turned as Percivel came into the room.

"All packed up?" he giant man asked.

"Yes we are, all ready to go." The Curator replied.

"How is Mikelus?" Kara asked.

"Completely fine. I've told him that he'll never turn into that beast again. I'm not sure if he believed me."

"I think it'll take a lot of time for that to sink in with him." the Curator replied.

"I wanted you both to know that I am so very grateful to you both for what you've done. Thank you."

"You're very welcome my boy. Kara and I have been talking and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us?" The Curator asked.

"We both think you've more than deserved to see what's out there with us." Kara added.

"You both have no idea how tempting that is. But I'm needed here. Half of the town's senior members are dead, I'm going to be needed here to put things back together." he replied.

"You're a good man Percivel," the Curator said. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a small device with two buttons on it and handed it to him.

"What's this?" he asked.

"If you ever need our help, with anything, or if you change your mind and want to join us, press that button." the Curator replied pointing to it.

"What's the other button for?" Percivel asked.

"If that starts flashing it means we're coming to see you. Remember that I may look a little different, anything can happen." the Curator said patting him on the shoulder.

"Thank you. If I can ever help you with anything, I'm always here for you."

The Curator shook Percivel's hand, "Thank you. We'll be seeing you again soon." he said before turning and walking into the TARDIS.

Kara walked over to Percivel and gave him a hug, "It's been a blast." she said with a smile.

"It was certainly interesting." he replied with a chuckle.

"Just be safe." she replied.

"You too." Percivel replied.

"As the Curator said, we'll see you again." Kara said.

"I hope so."

Kara smiled before turning and following the Curator into the TARDIS. Moments after she closed the doors the TARDIS began to make the noise signifying it was on the way, moments later it was gone.

Kara walked up the steps to the TARDIS main console where the Curator was busy piloting the TARDIS.

"So where to next?" she asked taking off the warm coat she had been wearing.

"Unfortunately we have a bounty hunter to find." he said.

"You really don't like her do you?"

The Curator smiled, "Not particularly. Anyway it's time to keep a promise. There are very few people alive who know about this. I've only ever told my wife."

"The Event?" Kara asked.

The Curator nodded his head.

"As you know I was in the Stationmaster and Warden's unit during the war. One day the high council sent the three of us to a planet named Borak. It was home to a race of about a million people. They were still quite early on in their development. The planet had a mineral that we mined for use in our weapons. There had been no word from them for some time. When we got there we immediately found out why, the Daleks had captured the planet and killed our people there," the Curator sighed before he spoke again, "They had enslaved the entire population. Half of them they were turning into Daleks, the other half," he paused for a moment, "The other half they were testing weapons and viruses on. Horrific things that were meant for us. We made a decision that day, one that were still living with to this day. The three of us decided there was only one way we could help them. We went to the mine shaft that went deep into the planets core and we planted the equivalent of nuclear bombs in there. Lots of people heard about Borak and it's mysterious destruction but only a few ever really knew what had happened. I've done some terrible things in my time Kara, but genocide was the worst."

Kara walked straight over to him and hugged him, "You did the only thing you could." she said, "You did what any decent person would have done, you put those people out of their misery, something that I hope you'd do for me if I were ever in that position."

The Curator took hold of her hand, "On my life, I will never put you in that position."

She smiled at him as tears ran down her face, "You really are a hero, all three of you are."


End file.
